Ouachita Parish Public Transportation is Inadequate

I live in Ouachita Parish, and I want to voice my opinion on the transportation system that is run out of the West Ouachita Senior Center:

Believe it or not, West Monroe (Ouachita Parish) does have a public transportation service. This service consists of several smallish white busses that drive around picking up and dropping people off.

My problem with the service is it’s inadequate, unreliable and unresponsive.

You see, they can’t work out a schedule to get passengers to “work” by 8am. I am visually impaired, and I consider myself lucky to have a job at all, yet even after explaining how transportation is the only thing keeping me from working, they refused to make a concession. I’m sure I’m not the only handicapped person in Ouachita Parish who’d like to get to work on time!

Another problem with it is I can’t work a full day if I do make it to work because they said they must pick me up by 2:30! The last time I rode the bus, I “worked” from 11am till 2:30 with an hour lunch. This is not sufficient.

So I ask you, what is a fellow to do? Sure I have family. I have a wife who drives. I have a daughter who drives. But imagine you were in my situation, would you want to burden your loved ones to cart you around everywhere? I don’t! I want to get by without any assistance from any of my family because I want to be independent of them, not dependant upon them.

Does this make sense?

Also, I’d like you to consider how easy it is for you to say, “Just get your wife to bring you to work.” Then consider how I went from being a well respected brick/block layer; driving my self around, independent and self assured, then suddenly loosing those attributes/abilities. I submit, the only people I want to continue my independence from is my immediate family.